The TSSAA Legislative Council met in Murfreesboro on Tuesday, April 9 and approved numerous changes to the TSSAA Bylaws for the 2023-24 school year.
Proposed language regarding the sanctioning of emerging sports was approved. The Legislative Council can now sanction an “emerging sport” once 15% of the TSSAA membership are either currently participating in the sport or committed to participation once sanctioned. A sanctioned emerging sport will be treated the same as all other TSSAA sanctioned sports, except that a state championship will not be offered initially. Instead, TSSAA will work to classify participating schools into districts, regions, and/or sections for a postseason invitational. All emerging sports, regardless of initial participation numbers, must go through a one-year trial period before a state championship will be added. After approving the new language regarding emerging sports, Girls’ Flag Football was approved as a sanctioned emerging sport for 2024-25.
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The Council voted to change the Sports Calendar to allow eight days of offseason practice during a 15-day period in the sports of Girls Volleyball, Girls Soccer, Girls Basketball, and Boys Basketball. Eight days of preseason practice during a 15-day period during the school year and prior to Christmas break was approved for the sports of baseball, softball, and soccer.
The Council approved an increase to each Non-faculty Coach Registration fee by $25. Current fees are $50 per high school coach and $25 per middle school coach. They also voted to increase the fine for a coach ejection to $500 for the first offense and $1000 for the second offense.
A change regarding ejections in soccer was approved so that players who are disqualified from the contest for receiving his/her second yellow card will now result in a one-game suspension.
A proposal to allow boys and girls basketball to play in three tournaments during the regular season was approved.
A full summary of the meeting can be found by clicking on the link below.
Legislative Council Summary (April 9, 2024) (PDF)
Source: Read Original Release
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